Bow-facing oar.



- A. T. TPPEL.

Bow FACING OAR.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.2 2,1916.

Patented Jan. 8, 1918.

ANTHONY T. TIPPEL, 0F ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA..

BOW-FACING OAR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J an. 8, 1918.

Application filed December 22, 1916. Serial No. 138,318.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANTHONY T. TIPPEL, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and State of Minnesota, have invented a new and useful Bow-Facing Oar,- of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in bowfacing oars, and the general object is to improve such oars by several new and useful features, which will be fully pointed out in the following specication and claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a top view of the gunwale of a boat with my improved bow-facing oar mounted on it. Fig. 2 is a. section on the line a-a in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an enlarged portion of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a top View of one of the meshing gears or segments at the adjoining ends of the two oar sections in Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is an outer side view of the plates 5 and 10 in Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is an end view of the Hat bar 13 with the guard plate 24 fixed on it.

Referring to the drawing by reference numerals, 1 designates the gunwale of a boat. As my oar is to be applied also to old boats, the gunwales of which are often weak and decayed from use and age, the first feature or part of my device is a strip of angle iron 2, about twenty or twenty-five inches long, which is secured on the inner and upper sides of the gunwale by bolts 3. Upon said strip and the gunwale beyond the outer edge of it is secured by bolts 4, a supporting plate 5, the under side of which is recessed longitudinally for the top flange of the angle iron, as best shown in Fig. 2. The ends of the plate are provided with downward {ingers 6 bearing against the outer side of the gunwale so as to guard against lateral swinging of the plate, which might tend to loosen the bolts 4, and to 'give the plate a firm hold of the gunwale.

Upon the middle of the plate 5 is provided an upward lug 7, to which is pivoted by a pintle 8 two downward lugs 9 of a frame plate 10, having two upward studs 11 with reduced upper ends l2 (see Fig. 5). Upon said reduced portions 12 is fitted a flat metal bar 13, which retains upon the studs 11 two meshing mutilated gears 15, having tubular extensions 16, in one of which the wooden handle member 17 of the oar is removably secured by a screw 18, while in the other the blade section 19 is removably secured by a screw 20.

To make the oar readily removable from the boat, the pintle 8 is held in place by a cotterpin 21 attached bv a cord or lightI chain (not shown) either to the plate 5 or the frame 10.

To guard against fish-lines, clothes, and especially the fingers getting caught between the two gears, one gear has the upper side of its teeth covered by a thin segmental plate 22 which projects in under a' similar plate 23 secured upon the other gear. Also the undersides of the gears may have similar plates 22a and 23a, as shown in Fig. 3.

To further guard against anything getting caught between the faces of the gears, a guard plate 24 is secured by a screw 25 upon the middle of the flat bar 13, is offset downward as at 26 in Fig. 6, so as to fit the edges of the bar and thereby be held firmly against rotation. The ends of said plate 24 project downward as in Fig. 6 and cover the faces of the gears at the frontand rear of the meshing point.

In the operation the oarsman faces toward the bow of the boat while rowing which is a great advantage compared to the old way of twisting the neck to see if there is any danger ahead and to keep the boat in the desired direction, all without encountering the many diliieulties and objections of the crude experimental devices in bow-facing oars heretofore constructed.

lVhat I claim is:

1. In a bow-facing oar, the combination with a tilting frame of two meshing gears or segments mounted in the frame, and an oar composed 0f a handle section and a blade section fixed one to each gear, and over- 5 with a tilting frame, of two meshing gears or segments mounted 1n the trame, and any oar composed of a handle section and a blade section fixed one to'each gear, and

overlapped segmental plates fixed on said gears and covering the upper sides of the toothed portions thereof, and similar platcs fixed on the gears and covering the lower sides of the gears.

In testimony whereof I alx my signature.

ANTHONY T. TIPPEL.V

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each. by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

i Washington, D. 0.. Y Y 

